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Some Quick Ideas for September for the Waldorf Kindergarten Crowd

Here are some fast ideas for September for the Waldorf Kindergarten crowd:

Have some verses or songs to call your child to a circle/fingerplay time: Come, Follow, Follow is a classic one that comes to mind along with this easy verse (that seems to have a few variations out there, so don’t fret if this is not the version you know!):

Good morning Dear Earth,

Good morning Dear Sun,

Good morning Dear Trees and Stones every one,

Good morning Dear Beasts and Birds in the Tree

Good morning to You and Good Morning to me!

What songs will you be bringing to your child for the whole month of September? You can bring the same songs for a month! I like to base our songs of the month around what festivals are upcoming. There are many wonderful pentatonic Michaelmas songs one can play on a recorder, Choroi flute or pennywhistle. Classics include “A Knight and A Lady”, This is a great chance for you to practice learning your own blowing instrument so you will be able to teach your child in first grade!

Choose some fingerplays or plan out a whole circle time with songs and verses if your family likes circle time. Common circle time themes for September, at least in the United States, include squirrels and other little forest creatures getting ready for Winter, harvesting, apple picking and apples, leaves and changing of the colors of leaves, ponies going to and from the harvest and pulling carts of the harvest. Fingerplays can include such things as counting, colors, shapes.

You may want to go into your practical work for the day here, or you may want to sing a song and transition into a fairy tale. For a three or four year old, this would be either a very repetitive, simple tale or a nature tale. www.mainlesson.com has a number of wonderful tales. For a five or six year old, you could start getting into the Grimm’s fairy tales. Fairy tales that have repetitive phrases or songs are usually attention-getters and pleasers. The book “Let Us Form A Ring” has some tunes set for some of the Grimm’s fairy tales, along with “pre-made” circle times and a few stories that include music in the back of the book. For example, the story “The Pancake Mill”is in this book, complete with music and that would be a lovely fall story. What props, puppets or craft items will you need to complete this experience for your child? Do you have a song or verse to transition into a time of listening and sharing your told story?

Next, what practical work will you be doing? Housekeeping, wet on wet watercolor painting, baking, gardening, arts and crafts? Again, for September in the United States much can center around apples, the star inside an apple, baking and cooking with apples, apple drying, the changing of the seasons so perhaps leaf painting, rubbing, leaf banners, dipping leaves into glycerin wax to make a leaf banner, making little figures out of pinecones, collecting things from outside and making little “carpets’ with them on the ground……Just as a note, six year olds need longer and more complex projects than a three-year old! Think a bit on it!

Work in your outside time, creative inside play time (what can you add to your indoor space for fall, what will change, what play scenes will you arrange), preparations for the time of Michaelmas if you celebrate that festival and wa-la! A very loving Waldorf Kindergarten in your own home!

You also need a simple closing verse! Don’t let your school time just fade away into nothing! Close it up, and be satisfied at a job well-done!

There is a lot more to say on this subject, but that literally is a very fast skeleton to plan from for a small child.

11 thoughts on “Some Quick Ideas for September for the Waldorf Kindergarten Crowd”

Great post Carrie – I have linked to it as it inspired me to get into gear with some spring planning down in this hemisphere! Circle time is going awry for us at the moment as munchkin is being extremely negative about everything at the moment as is the tendency of 2 1/2 year olds … so I have just left that for now and we just sing songs all day. But she still loves a story …

I was wondering whether the lyrics to A Knight and a Lady, which you mentioned here, are available somewhere. I would love to incorporate it this month, but I’m a bit confused as to where to find it. I have been googling with no luck.

Also, do you happen to know of a list of September fingerplays/songs anywhere? I’m just working on adding Waldorf to our lives and would like to include seasonal material and Michaelmas ideas too, but I am finding it a bit tricky to find the materials.

Your search is over,,,The lyrics are in that little red book of Pentatonic Songs by Elizabeth Lebert. Also you can try Wilma Ellersiek’s Gesture Games for Autumn and Winter for verses and such, along with Autumn Wynstones and Let Us Form A Ring. Try Bob and Nancy’s bookshop at http://www.waldorfbooks.com for these titles and more or Rudolf Steiner College Bookstore.

(with hand gestures of your choosing and with partnered dance of your making for honey bee section) One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
Two for the night and day.
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
Three for me for here I find
Strong limbs, dear heart and clear true mind
And two for the night and day.
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
Four for the seasons slowly turning
Three for me for here I find
Strong limbs, dear heart and clear true mind
And two for the night and day
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
Five for the stars so brightly burning
Four for the seasons slowly turning
Three for me for here I find
Strong limbs, dear heart and clear true mind
And two for the night and day
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
(wait…assign honey comb, honey bee )
Six for the honey comb on the bee hive
Bring that sweet sweet honey to me
And five for the stars so brightly burning
Four for the seasons slowly turning
Three for me for here I find
Strong limbs, dear heart and clear true mind
And two for the night and day
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
One, two, three, four, five, six,
Seven for the wonders of the of the sun
for the days at thirty past five
Six for the honey comb on the bee hive
Bring that sweet sweet honey to me
And five for the stars so brightly burning
Four for the seasons slowly turning
Three for me for here I find
Strong limbs, dear heart and clear true mind
And two for the night and day
One for the golden sun.

One for the golden sun.
One for the golden suuuunnnnnn!

Although I have changed 7:
7 for the wonders of the sky, and for the days as they pass by

Hi! I love this song, but I learned it as “Seven for the wanderers in the sky (the Pleides), and for the days as they pass by (one week); six for the honeycomb of the bee that gives its sweet, sweet honey to me…etc.” Also, we sang it as “warm heart” rather than “dear heart” but all these local variations are wonderful to share!